“If it was a football game, where would your money be?” I asked Willie. The Guard and COVID; Hiding Biden; Literary Mentors, . You can be at that pay phone a certain time and I’ll call you.”. The Rasta reefer dealers who hang out on the north side of the park sell righteous reefer, however. They use the most run-down, raggedy-ass van in the precinct for these Tuie Corner Roundups. The idea of Henry Aaron and Willie Mays in the same outfield is the stuff of “all-time team” discussions, yet the two legends came close to beginning their careers as teammates. These people have multiple addictions.” Ira estimates 20 percent of the people on methadone to be in this category of obsessive, self-destructive, multiple addiction. Yeah, Ramones and Zippy fans, there really is a gabba! ATLANTA (AP) — If anything, Hank Aaron was underappreciated for much of his unparalleled career.Exiled far from the media spotlight — first in Milwaukee, then in Atlanta — the Hammer went about his business in baffling obscurity compared to the other stars of his era, such as Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle. Not Willie. In May 1972, the Giants traded him to the New York Mets for a minor league pitcher and cash. And the real problem is invisible, or at least not as noticeable and obvious as a Placidyl parasite stumbling on the corner. A few white garbageheads from nearby methadone centers come over to hang out with their black and Puerto Rican friends. It was only late in his career, as Aaron set his sights on perhaps the … Proper introductory conversation gambits for such affairs are, “What clinic you go to? Among half a dozen lurid conspiracy theories this crankshaft was percolating was this one: “It’s like the feds made poison moonshining during Prohibition, see, so now they put out poison ‘ludes. “The lowest of the lowly Tuinal Touts,” he explains. He can make $50 on a good afternoon. The early birds are the park regulars: If you don’t see them there, it’s a good bet they’re in jail. This is our park.”. Get notified of our the latest cannabis news, exclusive brand deals, events updates and more! The cops in the 13th Precinct have a word for the Tuinal touts who chase cars, the pharmaceutical pimps with their stables of methadone whores, the fences who wander through the park hawking freshly stolen gold chains, watches, or maybe a bottle of Brut men’s cologne, the Placidyl-pushing P.C.s who’ll cut each other’s throats over a dime customer, the crapshooters who roll the dice against the base of the statue of George Washington on the horse that looks like it’s about to take a shit, the scavengers who scrutinize the grounds for stray drugs that might have been dropped during a stoned downer deal (as does often happen), and all the other quick-change artists, three-card monte and chuck-a-luck dealers, boozers, losers, and hustlers that haunt the park. When she reaches Tuinal Corner, the touts are all over her like sharks on a wounded dolphin. Who buys these drugs? Enter at your own risk. Republicans and Democrats will wrestle over the COVID stimulus bill today (while the House GOP recovers from a marathon session grappling over its own divisive issues -- and members). Only $2 a hit if you buy a thousand. Alice Morrison-Mays nearly died at the Marine Hospital in New Orleans, Louisiana, after being rushed there in a coma. Help her out.”, “Hell, she’d do better to help herself. A black man in his mid 30s, Willie is a wholesale-retail Tuinal dealer, as well as a pharmaceutical pimp. But Willie’s grand scam is his ‘Nam scam. He has up to four different identities he uses per doctor, enabling him to get close to 500 Tuinals a week. After another hour of quick round trips, he has to be scraped off the sidewalk by the St. Vincent’s Hospital Paramedic squad. Shorty is the loudest mouthed tout on the block. But it’s not even the kind of place you’d want to take your dog for a walk. At the racetrack, a tout refers to the kind of sleazy trackrat who’s too tapped-out to bet himself, but offers “hot” feedbox tips to bettors willing to share their winnings should the tip pan out to be front burner stuff. A tout is also called a P.C., for percentage. (Golf clubs are favorite weapons in Union Square Park—a lot kooler to strut with, and not so clumsy or obvious as a baseball bat, though the Louisville Slugger is still popular with heavy hitters and strikeout artists alike.) In fact, the park serves as an outdoor, fairweather social club for the dropouts, graduates, or lifers from the various methadone clinics, halfway houses, and rehabilitation programs that dot the nearby cobblestoned streets of Second Avenue. Chanting Down Babylon: The CIA & The Death of Bob Marley, The Lives of Weldon Angelos, Parker Coleman Jr. A bright, sunny summer day in the park can be like an alumni party. In spring and summer he wears a long-fringed leather vest with nothing underneath, and goes barefoot. Witness writer Joe Schenkman’s stroll through New York City’s East 14th Street from the February, 1981 issue of High Times. We all know about Valium, the most widely prescribed drug of the ’70s. Blues and reds?’ I said. There’s a guy stumbling around in circles saying, “Who got methadone? So Seconals, rather than sex, is the exchange here. “Ya probably read about them in the papers. How this works is the tout assaults passers-by with all the subtlety of a country auctioneer, yelling “Tuies and Valium! Their naive attitude is remove the people and you remove the problem. We’ve learned, growing up in the ghettos, that it’s everyone for himself. Simple as that. “Four different identities?” I’m impressed. We also offer a complement of original material from RCP’s reporters and contributors, including the following: Pelosi Backs COVID Testing of Troops Protecting Capitol. In the beginning history of the park back in the late 1700s, this was a “potter’s field” where the poor people of the city were buried. Willie has never seen a real patient yet in one of his doctors’ several reception rooms, and they’re always full of pillheads. That’s right! Tell him the first thing that pops into your head!”. We have been providing academic help to students from countries all over the world for years now. The rest are Puerto Ricans. Scoring on Sleaze Street in the early eighties. I’ve seen touts fight over customers. Pot, of course, is everywhere, and the dealer always tells you it’s good. Willie doesn’t tout or hawk his wares like most dealers. Willie has just finished his morning cup of tea and is starting on his first beer in a bag. There’s also a guy here called Roadrunner, who’ll sell you an airplane ticket to anywhere in the world half-price. The booze and barb blend that killed off so much talent in the past is still popular with some of the area’s nightclub patrons—some people never learn—and the truly motivated dealer can cash in on this big. “He wouldn’t gimme the time of day,” she snorted. The vast majority of people who hang out in Union Square Park are black, even though there are no nearby black neighborhoods. Boot ‘ludes were recognized as a good buy for years, but now the Tuie Corner industry is highly suspicious of them. If a tout sells a Valium for a buck, he makes a dime. Others simply stumble up to you like zombies out of Night of the Living Dead, more concerned with instant sales than lasting clientele. On a clear day, Willie can make $200 or $300. A VW Rabbit slows down rounding the curve at the bottom of Union Square Park West, and three pill pushers take off after it like dogs. “The cops think you must be drinkin’ soda if you sip through a straw,” he explains. Lasorda had been the oldest living baseball Hall of Famer - that distinction now belongs to Willie Mays, who turns 90 in May. I Flunked the Random House Typing Test, But Everything Turned Out Okay. Coke, m’man, coke!… try it before you buy it! “The nurses, they straighten me out, and in return I do them li’l favors—get them the kind of drugs the ol’ croakers can’t get em, like weed and crystal meth. “Chase after a car like goddamn hounds, trying to sell a pill.” Just as the touts catch up to the Rabbit, the driver hits the gas, and the touts come panting back to Tuinal Corner coughing smoke. The grounds are littered with Night Train Express wine bottles and smashed up brown plastic pill bottles. “If we ever go to war with Iran or Afghanistan or one of them countries,” Willie stopped to pillosophize, “they should back the truck right up to Tuinal Corner and start the draft right here, because these motherfuckers’ll fight for drugs!”, Your email address will not be published. The impact of that last development is still being felt -- and debated. Television Sportscaster. Susan Crabtree and Phil Wegmann examine the latest hot potato in Washington: whether Guard forces were (and are) adequately protected against the virus. Willie once told me he went to Kansas City to relax over a beer. It was in May 1952 (pages 56-60, paperback version, "BEYOND THE LIGHT"): He wears one of those brightly colored polyester beach hats with the pulled down brim they sell on 14th Street for a dollar, so his customers can spot him easily. Your email address will not be published. What’s funny is to hear strung-out barb freaks talk about methadone with all the contempt of a Parisian vintner ranking out California Beaujolais. We paused, walking back from the liquor store, through one of Willie’s rare treks through the park, to watch as a young Puerto Rican dealer—one of the new high tech-breed pushers who rides a ten-speed bicycle and keeps his stash rolled into the bottom of his elastic-cuffed jogging pants—was proceeding to wallop an older black dealer with a bike chain with a heavy padlock on the end, while crowds of lunch hour tokers and jokers looked on. Everybody in the square seems to know, for instance, that Hitler’s chemists originally invented methadone and called it dolophine, after Adolf himself. A blond stewardess-type who is paid for the painted-on plastic-smile look walks smack into the middle of the park, fearless as a Doberman, probably scoring ups to put on the smile, or downs to take it off. Good morning, it’s Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021. My dog is 12 years old, 45 lbs, very athletic (shepherd mix), but recently (last month or so) started being very lethargic before walks, suddenly changed from being the Willie Mays of catching treats to missing quite a few, has tripped a couple of times, and in general doesn't seem as happy. “On the Puerto Ricans,” he answered without hesitation. Take ’em up to Xenon’s and sell ’em there for $5! ”They’re building people’s tolerances up until they’re vegetables, not toning them down.” Watching a black outpatient score a few loose jays and sheepishly decline repeated offers of cut-rate Placidyl, Willie snorts oracularly, “A chicken used to be able to fly, but it’s been so long, he’s forgotten how.”, “Haven’t you heard? Many is the tale of the New Jerseyites who drive up in old muscle cars and score a bag, only to find out half way through the Lincoln Tunnel that they’ve just spent $5 on a li’l brown envelope packed tightly with Bull Durham or cigarette butts. Try it before you buy it! Some try coked-up hard-sell singsong jabber with the personal touch: “Check it out! Tha’s my Cadillac right there,” and he points to some hog parked on a meter along Union Square West. “Methadone, good luck kicking that shit ever.” Willie’s facts here aren’t far off, but he’s ignored the basic junkie condition in the first place. “It’s easier for women to get ‘scripts than men.” And around the macho streets of Placidyl Park, it’s easier for men to sell them. He hangs out on the little traffic island at the side of the park, or on the corner across the street, or, more likely, at the OTB up 14th Street, where Willie specializes in figuring out every daily double, exacta, quinella and triple on a nine-race card of horse racing. So since you can’t tell Valium boots from “real” boots, the boot market in New York is as depressed as a Westchester housewife whose diet doc just got popped by the DEA. He stands on the corner watching the girls glide by through rose-tinted shades, sipping on a beer in a bag through a straw. Willie claims to have four different crooked croakers who write him Tuinal ‘scripts. Depending on the day, there are also half-price bargain sales on hot goods liberated from Mays department store, located just across the street, for your shoplifting convenience. Drop it to the bottom of a champagne glass and watch it bubble and fizz! I found a local doctor who is a regular western medicine MD, but actually operates more like a naturopath. Okay, don’t bother—you just find a pay phone. There’s Shorty, a squat, beefy black man who usually wears a ring through his nose with a gold heart dangling off it, a shark’s-tooth earring and feather hanging off his left ear and a leather beret on his shaved dome. Willie Mays Hayes 4 weeks ago Throw Paxton on the pile with AJ Burnett, Michael Pineda, Javier Vasquez, Jared Wright, and the dung heap of guys … Pharmaceutical name for methaqualone. Shouldn’t have any problem.”. It’s a business. Carl M. Cannon Washington Bureau chief, RealClearPolitics @CarlCannon (Twitter) ccannon@realclearpolitics.com. Then they get huge pill prescriptions from some croaker doctor who writes them out a ‘script for 30 Valiums, 30 Tuinals, and 30 Placidyls all at once. “It’s gotta be the Feds,” a speed freak guaranteed me one afternoon on a bench. Mark Hemingway of RealClearInvestigations reports how Democrats designed the proceedings not just to target the president but to protect their potential nominee. “When I pay, I happen to pull out my pill bottle with a wad of bills. Shorty is the kind of pathetic trash certain reprobate cops like to beat up on, because they can get away with it. The Palladium, down 14th Street across from Burger King where the Placidyl zombies hang out, is also an easy target. By Willie’s pillosophy, methadone is an evil agent of the state to keep the dangerous people mellow as Jell-O. At RealClearPolicy, Frederick M. Hess and RJ Martin lament that little effort was made to clarify Miguel Cardona’s views on contentious issues. And they’re right, ethically at least. SURREY, B.C. No jive pusher could ever move enough 2-percent street smack to feed a methadone patient’s 200 per diem maintenance jones. Puerto Ricans didn’t even know what a pill was.”. A black dealer was stabbed to death in the past week, and Willie doesn’t see the situation improving, or any hope for his people for that matter. Weekend party people keep Tuinal Corner open late into Friday and Saturday nights. This morning’s lineup includes Janell Ross (Time), Steve Coll (The New Yorker), and Jane Stannus (The Spectator). Tuinal is equal parts Seconal and Amytal, packed into the jazziest colored bright-brown-and-turquoise-striped pill with an orange bullethead. When violence flares, as it regularly does, whether involving rival ethnic drug clans rumbling over turf, or a buyer who’s been beat coming back for revenge, the general consensus around the 13th Precinct is that these people deserve whatever they get. I’ve heard of them dying for less. Iconic American illustrator Norman Rockwell was born on this date in 1894. Since the cops, reportedly, don’t want to see the Rastas murdered by the Colombian wholesalers with mob connections, they tend to pick off these independent entrepreneurs, sort of for their own good.). Ira Jaffe, who counsels methadone patients in a nearby clinic, categorizes most of these touts as “garbageheads.” “They’ll put anything into their bodies to get high, without discrimination. When Joe Jackson or the Boomtown Rats play there, there’s sure to be downer dealers working the line outside for pill and pot sales. But he’s never down longer than the count of ten before he’s back and pacing the benches, looking for another partner to trade jabs, roundhouse rights, and left hooks. (Every now and then a Rasta will move a couple of suitcases full of Jamaican through Kennedy International Airport, good russet brown weed grown by his own homefolks, and try to peddle it some place open, like Tuie Corner. “She just went to the wrong Shapiro, is all.”. With its ups and downs, naturally. “You gotta phone? A black man in his mid 30s, Willie is a wholesale-retail Tuinal dealer, as well as a pharmaceutical pimp. Break open a bottle, snap one in half, test the clean break! But they’re there, scurrying around chattering the insect-junkie chant of Placidyl Park: “Tuies and Plaz! Valium goes for $1 for a ten-mil tab, boot ‘ludes go for $4 to $5 a tab. Everything might be kool, and then suddenly somebody’s being clubbed with a nine-iron golf club. Tuinal, Valium, Placidyl, Elavil, and Seconal are the top-selling drugs here, in about that order of popularity. Gabba gabba hey! It is the opinion of esteemed High Times editor Dean Latimer, a walking, talking PDR himself, that “most of these individuals on Tuie Corner belong to this elite 1 percent club of idiosyncratics, meaning the Tuinals stir ’em up rather than crank ’em down, in much the way overactive kids tend to be cooled out by schoolhouse-administered Ritalin.”. “I think if I really nagged him, I might’ve gotten a one-time ‘script for Librium or phenobarbital, but no ‘ludes, no way. The electronic music duo from Sacramento discuss their latest album, “Red Moon Rising,” and reveal their creative cannabis quirks. “Run, you hungry motherfuckers!” yells Willie, who’s standing on a traffic island digging the scene. Many different types come here. (He doesn’t do Tuinal.) Don’t understand it!’ She don’t realize it’s the speed makin’ her lose weight and she’s a nurse. Boydton Restaurants - Menus, Photos, Ratings and Reviews for over 100 Restaurants in Boydton. He loves to box, and takes on the youngbloods of the park dawn to dusk, sparring with them until they tire him out and he has to sit down on the bench to catch his wind and grab a drink. But Willie doesn’t stop there, and neither do the greedy croakers. Flash is a wiry, tall black hustler. The going rate is about ten or fifteen percent. It’s the Placidyl that does that.”. Willie is the koolest dealer in the park. “You can kick a smack habit in three days,” sneers Willie. I want a package deal,” in a desperate whine. Besides the cops cracking down on the pushers because of the upcoming election, there’s a race war between the blacks and the Puerto Ricans over turf dominance. He slips a straw into the beer and takes a sip, studying the morning line entries for Aqueduct race track in the Daily News. In the rearview mirror, we see some of the highs and lows of the American story: the creation of the USO in 1941; the start of the Patty Hearst kidnapping drama; and the launching of Facebook by Mark Zuckerberg and his Harvard chums. It’s a culture of outlaws administered by same. The U.S. taxpayer, man. Debunking Postmodernism’s Dim View of Science. And that’s the name of that tune,” said the missile mouth. At this writing, there’s a war going on in Union Square Park. A mellow man unless aroused by injustice, Big Floyd keeps an eye on his younger brother and the park scene in general. And shit, I dunno, maybe I was.”. Ross Pomeroy spotlights the work of  Steven Novella. 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